Qassem calls to overturn framework agreement with Israel: 'Hezbollah will not yield'

BEIRUT — Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem sharply condemned on Friday the negotiation process initiated by the Lebanese authorities with Israel, arguing that it had brought “neither an end to the war nor an Israeli withdrawal,” and calling to “overturn” the framework agreement signed between Beirut and Tel Aviv on June 26 under U.S. mediation. In a speech delivered at a religious gathering marking the birth of the Prophet Mohammad, he also defended the record of the “resistance,” asserting that it had helped to “break the project of Greater Israel,” while assuring that his party would “not yield.”

Qassem accused the Lebanese authorities of having chosen “a path that does not bring them honor” and of having “given everything to the enemy.” “Have these negotiations stopped the war?” he asked, arguing that they “are taking place under fire” and amount to “a capitulation without any counterpart.” He also rejected the role of Washington as a mediator, saying “the United States and Israel are one and the same.” Calling the framework agreement “illegitimate, illegal and humiliating,” the Hezbollah leader argued that it “destroys Lebanese sovereignty” and does not allow the country to “recover its rights.”

He further stated his opposition to the “pilot zones,” as well as to the committee tasked with verifying Hezbollah’s disarmament in these zones and to those participating in it, arguing that the mechanism was “outside the law and did not have Lebanese consensus.” According to the security annex signed alongside the framework agreement between Tel Aviv and Beirut, the MCG4L, or Military Coordination Group for Lebanon, is a coordination body between the two countries tasked with managing deconfliction, verification and the overall implementation of the agreement around the clock. “This cell will report to the respective political authorities of Israel and Lebanon through indirect military channels between the two countries.”

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Qassem also said that Hezbollah "will remain on the ground" and "will not accept the projects" proposed to it. Nevertheless, he stressed that his party does not want war and remains in favor of “the application of the November 27, 2024 agreement within the framework of Resolution 1701, and nothing else.” The leader of the party then dismissed the idea that Lebanon and Israel are at war. “What exists today is not a mutual war, but a clear Israeli aggression,” he said. “It is Israel that attacked us, not the other way around,” he insisted, arguing that the firing of “three or four rockets” could not be considered the start of a war, alluding to the operation carried out by Hezbollah against Israel to avenge the death of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

In this context, Qassem defended the record of the “resistance” in Lebanon. “We broke the project of Greater Israel and prevented it from reaching Beirut and depriving Lebanon of its strength,” he said. According to him, Israel “does not dare to establish a settlement in south Lebanon because it is not in a favorable situation there due to the presence of the resistance,” even though Israel continues to carry out daily strikes in Lebanon and occupies an area of more than 600 square kilometers along the border.

Finally, referring to populations affected by the conflict, the Shiite leader assured that his party would continue to work on “social aid, reconstruction and rehabilitation,” before concluding: “We will hold our heads high and we will not yield.”